Nigerians Stage Protest At The London Embassy Chanting “Give Us Peter Obi”

Some Nigerians staged a massive protest at the Nigerian Embassy in London, United Kingdom on Friday, March 3, 2023 demanding that the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi be declared winner of the February 25, 2023 presidential election.

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Mahmood Yakubu, on Wednesday announced the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu, winner of the election with a total of 8,794,726 votes, having also scored over 25 per cent of the votes cast in 30 states. The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar, came second with 6,984,520 votes, while Peter Obi polled a total of 6,101,533 votes to come third place.

“Give us Obi, give us Obi,” the crowd chanted on Friday as they waved the Nigerian flag. Addressing an international press conference on 2nd March 2023, Peter Obi had vowed to challenge the electoral process in court, insisting his party won the election but had been robbed of its mandate. “We will explore all legal and peaceful options to reclaim our mandate. We won the election and we will prove it to Nigerians,” he said.

A coalition of International Election Observation Missions also faulted the process saying that the introduction of the Bimodal Voter’s Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) were perceived as an important step to ensure the integrity and credibility of the elections, but noted that uploading of results using the BVAS did not work as expected.

“Logistical challenges and multiple incidents of political violence overshadowed the electoral process and impeded a substantial number of voters from participating,” the coalition said in its official statement. They, however, called on aggrieved political parties and their candidates to settle electoral disputes through peaceful means and dialogue, in accordance with the law. However, six states in Nigeria such as Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and Sokoto have asked the Supreme Court to nullify the election.